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Michigan Winters: the Next Test for Waymo Autonomous Cars

Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo self-driving car unit is expanding its testing to public roads in Michigan to evaluate operating performance in winter conditions.

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Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo self-driving car unit is expanding its testing to public roads in Michigan to evaluate operating performance in winter conditions.

Testing will begin in metropolitan Detroit next week with specially outfitted variants of Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans with a backup driver onboard. Waymo opened a 53,000-sq-ft development center in Novi, Mich., in May 2016, and is creating high-definition maps of the area.

Michigan is the sixth state where Waymo will test autonomous vehicles, following Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas and Washington. The company has conducted cold weather testing since 2012 in Nevada and northern California. Michigan will enable further testing of Waymo’s sensors in snow, sleet and ice.

CEO John Krafcik announced the Michigan program in a blog post.

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